Meatballs on My Mind
Meatballs seem to be pretty trendy these days. Food trucks hit the street and pop-up restaurants have expressed their love for these rounded delights by focusing on just that - meatballs. When its the dead of winter all I want is a plate full for pasta dosed with meat sauce and topped with one or two juicy meatballs. I love the combination of chuck beef, pork and veal but this recipe can always work well with just the beef or the beef and pork. My recipe is based off of a family recipe with a few twists and turns of my own.
So what's your favorite meatball recipe? Do share.Meatballs and Meat Sauce
3.5 pounds ground meat (1.5 lb ground chuck beef, 1 lb ground pork, 1 lb ground veal)
2 (28 oz) cans of whole peeled san marzano tomatoes blended with their juices
2 (12 oz) cans of tomato paste (preferably Contadina with garlic)
2 yellow onions chopped
2 eggs
2 – 3 cloves of garlic minced
2-tablespoons dried oregano
1-tablespoon garlic powder
1-teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1-cup panko or Italian bread crumbs
1-cup grated Parmesan
Meat Sauce (and Meatball Prep)
In a large heavy pot over medium-high heat, sweat the chopped onions until soft and almost translucent. Add in the minced garlic and sweat with onions for 1 – 2 minutes. Pull out half of the onions and garlic and set aside for the meatballs. While the onions are sweating, mix all three-ground meats with you hands so each meat is evenly distributed throughout.
Add 1.5 pounds of the ground meat mixture to pot with half of the onions still in the pot. Add one tablespoon of oregano, crushed red pepper and a pinch or two of course salt and ground pepper. Brown the meat.
After the meat has browned, add the two cans of blended tomatoes (I hate cleaning up so in lieu of dirtying my food processor, I chop the tomatoes right in the can using kitchen scissors).
Bring the heat down to low to medium heat then add in the garlic powder, tomato paste and one cup of water (you may need to add more water as you go).
While the sauce comes up to a simmer, start work on the meatballs.
Meatballs
In a large bowl add the other half of the sweated chopped onions and garlic to the remaining 2 pounds of ground meat mixture. Add the remaining oregano, panko, Parmesan cheese and a few pinches of course salt and ground pepper. Mix together with you hands.
Begin working the mixture into Clementine sized balls and set on a plate.
Add a couple tablespoons of olive oil to a heavy pan and turn the heat up to medium-high heat. Work in batches of eight and don’t crowd the pan. Brown each side of the balls then set on a plate lined with paper towels. Repeat until all meatballs have been browned. After the meatballs are drained, slowly slip them into the meat sauce and cover with sauce.
Bring the heat down to low, cover and stir infrequently for the next 2+ hours.
This recipe is always best made a day or two ahead.
